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Post by Joxcenia on Dec 31, 2004 1:20:18 GMT -6
Is any written works original anymore? I fretted on my writing not being "original" at one time, until I read the book, Mythology by Edith Hamilton and discovered that even Shakespeare's works were not original as I had thought at one time.
Case in point being the story of Romeo & Juliet, which is similar to the Greek Mythology story of Pyramus & Thisbe.
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Post by Joxcenia on Dec 31, 2004 1:29:18 GMT -6
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Post by Joxcenia on Jan 3, 2005 17:36:25 GMT -6
This quote came from a thread on Jenn's board.
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 3, 2007 18:20:13 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 3, 2007 18:31:22 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 24, 2007 16:55:34 GMT -6
I signed up for Holly Lisle's Newsletter, and this is what the first one contained:
This is the first lesson in your one-month course on plotting using basic conflicts.
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What Is Not A Plot
=======================
In Create A Plot Clinic ( hollylisle.com/cap.html ), I point out that the 7 Basic Plots in Literature, (or the 1, or 3, or 20, or 36, depending on who you ask) are a myth of Mermaid-like proportions. (If you want to see the myth live, go to this link at the Internet Public Library: www.ipl.org/div/farq/plotFARQ.html)
Beginners look these up thinking they'll be able to memorize these puppies and then they'll always know what to write.
When you look at the lists, though, your teeth start to itch.
"[wo]man vs. nature" is not a plot.
"Type A, happy ending," is not a plot. (That's not even a helpful conflict. Foster-Harris manages in the four paragraphs listing his theories to turn writing into a black hole of tedium, sucking the life out of writers looking for help. Read "1 Plot" and "3 Plots" with your tedium-blocking glasses taped to your face.)
"Escape" is not a plot.
Gimme a break. You sit down at a writers conference and field questions about your next book, and someone asks "What's your book about?" and you say, "Escape," and then sit back like you said something useful, and every eye in the room is going to glaze over.
Not a single one of these things is a plot.
Excluding Foster-Harris, these lists offer conflicts. Conflicts are good. They're useful. But let's not mistake them for plots.
PLOT is the series of events that move the characters and story forward.
Plot is made up of characters struggling with conflicts toward a goal, whether known or unknown to them. Plot has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Plot Does Things.
So, aside from allowing critics to diss your book in three words or less, what are these lists good for?
They make very nice conflicts for real plots.
In Lesson Two, you'll start a plot outline doing a bit with Mix 'N Match Conflicts.
Keep writing, keep learning,
And never give up on your dreams.
Holly Lisle
=======================
Holly Lisle's Create A Plot Clinic
hollylisle.com/cap.html
=======================
USING BASIC CONFLICTS TO BUILD PLOT is Copyright (C) 2007, by Holly Lisle. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
If you wish to learn more, please sign up for the newsletter.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 10, 2008 23:57:35 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 12, 2010 2:09:11 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 12, 2010 2:15:03 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 12, 2010 16:20:41 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Apr 10, 2011 22:22:55 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Apr 25, 2011 18:31:13 GMT -6
The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide
A Companion to the #1 Bestselling Series by Stephenie Meyer
Page 44:
Stephenie Meyer: You know, I think ... maybe readers who aren't writer's might look at something like that --- using inspiration from other books --- as kind of a form of plagiarism. But, actually, the more you get into writing, I think you realize that there is no new story.
Shannon Hale: Every story has been told, so you're just telling it in a new way.
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 31, 2011 1:31:51 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jun 7, 2012 19:55:58 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Jul 11, 2013 17:59:13 GMT -6
There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before. -- Willa Cather
Adam was the only man who, when he said a good thing, knew that nobody had said it before him. -- Mark Twain
Who is original? Everything that we are doing, everything that we think, exists already, and we are only intermediaries, that's all, who make use of what is in the air. -- Henry Miller
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 4, 2014 18:00:24 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 11, 2015 18:19:44 GMT -6
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